Commercial raising of cattle for dairy production requires proper management. In addition to the various husbandry concerns such as herd health and nutrition, a critical management area for economic survival of any cattle operation, is the breeding management of the cows.
Dairy cows are managed intensely and there are costs associated with breeding the cow, how long it takes each cow to become pregnant, as well as associated labor costs. Economics of a dairy make it important to both minimize the amount of time a dairy cow is not pregnant and yet still have a high probability of the cow becoming pregnant.
It is estimated that for every day past a set goal date that a cow remains non-pregnant or open, there is an economic loss of between $1.00-$3.00 per day. An average sized dairy herd is between 200 to 1,000 cows. If the 24 hours during which the cow should be bred is missed for each cow, this represents an economic loss of $4,200.00 to $21,000.00 annually. Often cows are not successfully bred for as many as 3 estrous cycles, due to infertility, infections and semen-related problems. If one half of the cows in a herd of 200 to 1,000 is not impregnated for 3 cycles, the estimated economic loss increases to $6,300.00 to $31,500.00 annually. These projections of economic loss to the producer demonstrate the critical importance of the cow spending the majority of each year producing milk.
Annually 1 million dairy cows are culled for reproductive failure, for reasons such as infertility and infections.
To improve the management of dairy cows and decrease the economic losses associated with the non-pregnant interval it is desirable to have additional options and management tools other than culling the animals.
Many of the problems, such as missed estrous cycles, infertility, infections and semen-related problems are best managed by direct, local intervention and management applied to the cow""s reproductive tract. These types of intervention and management include, but are not limited to introducing devices into the vagina of the cow for monitoring their estrous cycle, managing the cycle by introduction of hormones or steroids or introducing therapeutic agents for example antibiotics and antimycotics.
One problem with managing cow at the local level of the vagina is the difficulty of effectively retaining any type of device in the animal""s vagina over any length of time. There is a tendency for objects that have been introduced into the vagina to passively come out, to be expelled from the animal, or to be pulled out by the subject animal or one of its herdmates. To effect local vaginal intervention and management for cow health and productivity, a reliable retention device is needed.
The present invention is a tail-mounted retention device for securing an object in an animal""s vagina, the device comprising a first and second tail anchor or ring, and a tether attached to at least the first tail anchor. The invention is most suited for attachment to a housing or device that is inserted into the cow""s, or other tailed-animal""s vagina. The invention functions to hold the object resident in the vagina.